Turning Challenges into Success: Mark DiFranco’s Story of Picasso
Jakob here 🖐
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Mark DiFranco, from Ontario, Canada, has been developing iOS apps professionally and recreationally for over 13 years. His current focus is on Picasso, a popular app for creating App Store screenshots. Building apps is his full-time occupation.
The idea for Picasso emerged in the summer of 2023 while Mark was updating his app, Memento. He needed to update over 500 screenshots due to Memento's support for multiple languages and platforms. The existing tools were slow and lacked creative flexibility, prompting Mark to recall some code that could convert SwiftUI views into PNG images. Although he had little time for another project, a job layoff in November 2023 provided him the opportunity to develop Picasso.
Picasso launched on December 24, 2023, but initial sales were slow due to high package prices. To generate interest, Mark launched a contest called Project Facelift, offering free screenshot redesigns for selected apps, which helped him refine Picasso’s features based on user feedback.
The contest attracted attention, boosting Picasso’s user base to over 1,000 by June 2024. As of today, Picasso has more than 4,500 users and has exported over 75,000 screenshots, generating a steady income through various subscription options.
Read the full story
https://www.fakemayo.com/p/how-mark-grew-his-app-store-screenshot-creation-app-to-4500-users
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